at the question as purely military or naval, the case was this: The
American colonies were large and growing communities at a great
distance from England. So long as they remained attached to the
mother-country, as they then were enthusiastically, they formed a
solid base for her sea power in that part of the world; but their
extent and population were too great, when coupled with the distance
from England, to afford any hope of holding them by force, if any
powerful nations were willing to help them. This "if," however,
involved a notorious probability; the humiliation of France and Spain
was so bitter and so recent that they were sure to seek revenge, and
it was well known that France in particular had been carefully and
rapidly building up her navy. Had the colonies been thirteen islands,
the sea power of England would quickly have settled the question but
instead of such a physical barrier they were separated only by local
jealousies which a common danger sufficiently overcame. To enter
deliberately on such a contest, to try to hold by force so extensive a
territory, with a large hostile population, so far from home, was to
renew the Seven Years' War with France and Spain, and with the
Americans, against, instead of for, England. The Seven Years' War had
been so heavy a burden that a wise government would have known that
the added weight could not be borne, and have seen it was necessary to
conciliate the colonists. The government of the day was not wise, and
a large element of England's sea power was sacrificed; but by mistake,
not wilfully; through arrogance, not through weakness.

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1. An interesting proof of the weight attributed to the naval power of
Great Britain by a great military authority will be found in the
opening chapter of Jomini's "History of the Wars of the French
Revolution." He lays down, as a fundamental principle of European